Engine control mechanism



Jime 11, 1940. R. M. HEINTZ ENGINE CONTROL MECHANISM Filed Feb. 2a, 1939 b .M! e M m m Mi? d In a, W, 2%

Patented June 11, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT .oFFicE ENGINE con'rnor. rmcnnmsm Ralph M. Heinta, Montclair, ,N. 1., assignor a Bendix Aviation Corporation, Ind, a corporation of Delaware South Bend,

Application February 28, 1939, No. 259,010

I 2 Claims.

' vention, of special significance when the engine is employed as the power supply for operation of a direct current generator, is the concept of using the electrical demand placed upon the generator as the controlling factor in engine speed regulation. In such a use of the invention the governor and generator controls will be coordinated in such manner as to permit economy in engine operation, by holding the engine speed at a fraction of its normal full speed capabilities during periods of low electrical demand, and by stepping up the engine to full speed only when the electrical demand rises correspondingly.

When taking full capacity output from an englue-driven generator running at full speed, the engine losses ordinarily do not exceed a tolerable proportion of th indicated horse-power; but on reducing the elec rical demand to some lower figure, these losses (traceable to friction, windage, cooling fan and/or supercharger operatiom-etc.) may become several times the useful output, and instead of getting three-fourths of a kilowatt, for examplejfrom a pound of fuel, the output may drop to a hundred watts or possibly less.

While the pumping losses vary more or less directly with speed, the friction losses vary about as the'3/2 power and the windage, supercharger and fan losses vary as the square of the speed. Moreover, windage and brush friction are purely functions of speed; and generator eddy current losses and pole facelosses are likewise functions of the armature frequency, which is to say that they also vary with speed.

Although it is true that these losses may not be great as a proportion of the full'load output, they are nevertheless a considerable proportion of the output at, say, V load. In other words;

a generator which might have an efllciency of 75% at full load, when operating at load and still running at full speed might have its efficiency reduced to 30% or lower. It follows that for highest efliciency the engine-generator should run just fast as and no faster than is necessary to supply the electrical demand of the moment.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a method of operation wherein, on the electrical demand, and onthe other hand, substantially constant (rated) voltage is maintained across the terminals of the engine-driven gerierator, both during part load and full load conditions. mum speed is replaced by the new 'concept of variable speed operation, with a difierent maximum speed for each load condition, but with full rated voltage at all times.

- The attainment of this flexibility in speed governing involves the provision of two or more governors; one of which acts directly upon the engine throttle (or equivalent fuel feed) while a second governor operates to control the governing action of the first (as by modifying its spring loading to meet changes in the power demand).

Any'goveming system can be likened to an electrical system having inductance, capacitance and resistance. Like such an electrical system, the governor system can oscillate, If there is no resistance, the oscillations are undamped and continuous. If the resistance is small, the damping is slight and only a small amount of energy is necessary to keep the system oscillating as, for example, the balance wheel of a watch. If more resistance is added, the oscillations are still further damped; and if enough resistance is Thus the old concept of a single maxi-g 'one hand, the engine speed is' governed by the,

er is used. In the, present invention, on the is to provide a governor system involving two or more governors, one of which is driven continuously by the engine, while a secondary, or pilot,

governor isdriven at varying speed by a driving motor which is. rapidly energized and de-energized, according to the'need for stabilization'in the action of the engine-driven governor.

These nd other objects of the invention will become apparent from. inspection of the followferred embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a structure suitable for use in the system of Fig. 1.

In the drawing the abovev described main governor is shown at 5, the pilot governor at 6, motor and engine driven shafts at I and I0, respectively, a motor at M, an engine-driven gen erator at G, and at 9 is shown a throttle valve controlling the supply of fuel to the intake manifold of the engine which drives the generator G and the main governor drive shaft I0.

The motor energizing circuit includes, in addition to the direct current source G, a hand switch H and an automatic switch having contacts l3, l4 one of which is adapted to be carried by an armature piece I5 constituting part of they magnetic circuit of an electromagnet whose winding I6 is connected across the battery terminals, as indicated at [1 and I8, and which winding therefore reflects the voltage conditions existing in the line. A suitable spring I9 is effective to hold the armature contact l4 in its uppermost position except when the line voltage rises above the normal (rated) value.

The generator G has its armature winding in series with the series fields B and in parallel with the shunt fields C; and in order to develop the same line (rated) voltage during low demand, low speed operation as is developed during full demand, top speed operation, I propose to employ a field compounding method that will produce near-saturation of..the fields at low speed, but with a falling off from this near-saturation value as the speed rises-that is, before the eddy current losses and harmonic generation (which are negligible at low speed) have a chance to become severe. 'I'hefield structure which I employ involves both shunt and series windings, and further involves reversing the series winding, as a result of which reversal the current passing through the series coils tends to cancel some of the flux due to the shunt field windings,

thereby weakening the total field by erasing a variable proportion of the total flux, the percentage erased being substantially proportional to each speed increase, until at top speed the amount of erased flux is just enough to permit limit of rated line current at the same voltage as that which is obtained at the lower speeds, namely, the rated line voltage (the shunt field being, of course, made of sufiicient size to assure attainment of the rated line voltage at the lowest running speed).

Reference character 2| designates the contacts of a reverse-current relay 22 which is of conventional construction for the establishment of unidirectional current fiow between the g'enerator G and the battery 23, except that its contacts 21 are in the circuit of the main contactor .coil 24 instead'of being interposed in the main line itself; hence the opening of contacts 2| deenergizes coil 24 and thus breaks the main line circuit at the contacts 25 of the main contactor 2.4. This novel arrangement (not claimed in this application) makes it possible to reduce the size of relay 22.

The mechanical connections between the pilot governor 6 and the main governor spring 31 may take any desired form, but as shown include a hollow shaft or sleeve 8 splined to the armature shaft extension I of the pilot motor M, and having a collar portion 33 to receive the upper arms of the governor 6, the lower arms of which are received in the lower collar 34 which is held against axial movement by suitable bearing means 35, so that sleeve 8 may slide freely therewithin in response to the action of centrifugal force upon the revolving weights of the govornor. The fianged base of sleeve 8 abuts spring 31' of the main governor 5, whose upper collar 38 is rotatable in a bearing 39 which prevents axial movement thereof, while its lower collar 4| is an integral part of a sleeve 4|] that is splined to the engine driven shaft. ID by which it is drivably connected to the engine, for rotation thereby. A pivotally mounted lever 42 has one end yoked within flanges on sleeve 40, to be shifted as the sleeve 40 is moved axially by the governor, the other end of the lever being operatively connected to the engine throttle valve 9.

On starting the engine (and assuming switch II to be left open, for low speed, low demand operation), the main governor 5 will take charge and movethe throttle to the low speed position. Switch 45 is then closed, momentarily, producing flow of current to energize main contactor coil 24 and thus close contacts 25 to permit charging of the battery.

Now, if occasion should arise to require a higher electrical output, the engine speed will be stepped up by closing switch ll. Closure of switch II will energize motor M, thereby spreading the arms of governor B and correspondingly shifting the governor sleeve 8 (downwardly) to increase the load on spring 31 of governor 5. This causes the arms of governor 5 to swing at a narrower radius, and lowers the governor sleeve correspondingly, (in the arrangement shown in Fig. 2-) thereby moving the throttle valve 9 toward full-open position and speeding up the engine.

The resulting increase in generator output takes care of the added electrical demand, but does not necessarily produce any substantial voltage increase, due to the reverse, or differential,

' as switch ll remains closedthat is, until a falling off in electrical requirements renders it advisable, in the interest of economy of fuel, etc., to re-open switch I l and restore the engine to low speed condition, under the sole control of governor 5. r

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a variable speed internal combustion engine having an engine speed controlling governor thereon, means including an electric motor for varying the governor load- 2,204,402, ing, and automatic means for energizing said 10 controlling governor thereon, means including an 3 electric motor and a second governor ior varying the governor loading, and automatic means for energizing said motor, said automatic means including a source of current, a circuit from said source to said motor, and means responsive to an excessive voltage across the terminals c! said source for preventing current flow in said circuit and thereby preventing excessive loading of the first-named governor,

RALPH M. EEIN'IZ. 

